YO YUMU.......

Yo yumu!

they call out my name

the deep river woman

with a shiny black skin

gleaming with radiance

from the raw Shea butter

white teeth in the sparkle

bathed in black  gums

and a middle gap

that stops the masses

 

 

Yo yumu!

I hear them say my name again

my sisal tough and forest of a hair

shimmering in the coconut oils

the Agomanya market beads

lay patently on my chest

showing off my elongated neck

and the bones that made my shoulders

are exposed to the world

heads turn in my direction

Yo yumu....

They whisper in tiny folds

wishing deep into the airs

dreaming late into the nights

praying when the sun sets

i glow in the morning sun

i flow when the sun hits noon

yet as the sun goes to set

my freshness is like milk in a gourd

the sour taste of it makes them keep drinking

 

Yo yumu

They shudder at the mention of my name

i carry burdens over my shoulder

but still smile like i won a jackpot

when i walk the ground stops

because of my nobility

they never talk without calling me

because i make the world

i run the words that roll in their mouths

and still hold my on to my ego

Yo yumu

I am the whispers of the wind

when palms of the coast wave their branches

i am the unspoken silence

when the tide of the sea calms down

i am the clambering noise

when the rain falls in heavy torrents

i am here now but yet

i can be there and over there now too

i am your dream and nightmare too

 

Yo yumu

I wave my hands into the air

dancing to the tunes of the isikuti

my sisal skirt tight in my waist

and my stout feet stamp the ground with might

in another world i fold my body in rappa

and move my hand gently

to the dipo song of the Krobo

i fall into a musical trance

my soul....my being....my spirit

Yo yumu

I am the African woman

sometimes i will bow to tradition

other times tradition must bow to me

i go where the wind takes me

and become what it whispers to me

sometimes i can carry your burden

other times everyone must take their cross

i am the African woman, seasonal

but it does not change who i am.....